winter blues

gosh i miss this place. Winter set in and covered everything up. I was able to make it up in February to shovel off the snow accumulation on the roof but have not been back since. I'm anxious to get working on it again and finish up the remodel. Hopefully by fall we'll have a functional, finished home in Wyo. I've had the remodel on my mind for some time. I don't like have such a big project unfinished.

Before I mentioned possibly using some square door knobs on this project, but I'm now debating some clean and simple door levers. Check these out:

Pretty cool looking lever for a modern style home. I'm hoping to get this home out of the 70's and give it some modern coolness. We'll see how it turns out.

house back down.

Just in the nick of time the home was set back on it's foundation this fall. The snow hit and has been coming down ever since. Unfortunately, the house movers didn;t want to remove their 60' steel beams so we are unable to finish framing up the small addition - if we do, they won't be able to get the beams out. Sounds like setting the house back down was pretty uneventful. I was able to stop by soon after, but it was dark and I wasn't able to see much. I asked my brother to take a couple of pics on his way home and this is what he sent.

Modern Plans

This won't work where we are because of the floor plan we have, but it would be cool to remodel to a modern design like this home. Something about real clean lined modern urban design on a forested piece of land is appealing to me. As apposed to the so common cabin style home. Our floor plan is more cut up, but if I were starting from scratch, this would be a cool design with the expansive wall of windows to take in the view.

New Foundation

The new foundation is finally in and hopefully this week the house will be set back down on the new foundation and get buttoned up for the winter. When spring comes we'll begin working on the cosmetic type remodeling. Snow started falling soon as the foundation was poured so hopefully we'll have enough time to get it all framed back up and closed in. Replacing the foundation is going to be much nicer in the long run, but not as much fun as remodeling cosmetic things because with items like flooring and cabinets you can see immediate improvement on the property. Still, i'm excited about the new foundation.

Barn Door Hardware

I'm on the hunt for something a little different for the wyoming house. I found this barn door style hardware for couple of doorways where I'd like to save some space, but don't really want a pocket door. This sliding track is pretty cool, but not cheap. There must be a better deal to be had. Still, probably cheaper than tearing the wall out, buying pocket door hardware and reframing and finishing the walls.

You have to look at the overall expense when making decisions in construction. Building several homes over the years has taught me that a decision seemingly less expensive now, may not the most cost effective in the end.

Commercial Siding

I'm digging the siding on this place. I like the windows too, but I'm sure they are more expensive than I want to pay. The siding may be too since it's commercial, but I'd rather not have to paint a house over and over so I'm leaning towards some higher than residential quality siding. I just need to locate where i can purchase it.

Wood Burning Stoves

I'm learning some things I didn't know much about fixing this old place up. I have been on the lookout for a cool modern style wood burning stove for our wyoming house. I have found several options but none of them are matching up to what was already there before. At first I thought I could just tear into the wall and move the fireplace flue up or down to accomodate the stove that I had purchased - oh how nieve I was. Apparently when a fireplce flue is built they start at the bottom and work their way up. As a result, it's pretty difficult to modify the existing flue since all of the weight of the chimney pipe is bearing on the bottom fittings. So I have had to look at other alternatives for our stove that aren't quite like my original plan.

Option 1: built a small platform (about 6" high) and install this stove:

Option 2: No platform, and go with this round design.

The rounded design isn't my favorite, but I think we're going for a modern style interior so either one would fit with the decor. These Morso stoves are apparently really nice. My parents have one in their home and [after owning many over the years] say that it is better than any they have owned. The glass stays clean and the convection design puts out a real even heat and burns longer than other stoves. I was hoping to get one installed before winter, but I don't think it's going to happen. I'd have to have all of the tile behind the stove done and with the home being raised 6' in the air right now with no power, it will be difficult to get it done. Priority is just getting the home back on the foundation and closing it up for winter.

No foundation

Well, the old foundation is officially gone. Now the excavation work begins to dig deeper so that the new footings and foundation are below frost depth. The old one was just few inches under ground which just doesn't fly in this part of Wyoming where the winters are fairly harsh. I hope they can get it all buttoned back up before winter hits.

Door Knobs

I've been in the hardware business for some time now. Ever since I started I wanted to eventually design and have manufactured a square knob wth a rectangular rosette. Well, Emtek beat me to it. Oh well, saved me some headache I guess. So I'm thinking of these for the wyoming house. We'll see if it goes along with everything else we put in the house, but today I'm liking them.

Raising a Home

The home has been lifted off of the foundation. And they did it without cutting down any trees!! I was stoked. I thought for sure they would have to cut some down to get those 60' beams in there. It's hard to snake a 60' beam through lots of pines and aspens, but they were able to do it. The lifting process began on Monday and the home was lifted 24" off the foundation by wendsday afternoon. We did have to disconnect the power on one side, and disconnect the plumbing in the crawl space. When the new foundation is set, the home will sit about 6" higher than it is now which will improve the situation. When I bought the home the ground sloped toward the home. Even after grading the land back out, the dirt level was right up next to the bottom of the siding. 6" was about all we could raise it without incurring a lot more expense so I figured that would do. I'm hopeing to make it up to WY this weekend to check this out. It's just cool to see something like this happen. I wish I could see someone else have to pay for it, but I think it will be well worth it in the long run. I debated quite a bit about replacing the whole foundation or just the trouble spots shown in the last post. My decision to replace the whole thing turned out to be a wise one. When the home was lifted Phi, [the guy doing the 3work for me] said that all the cracks we thought were hairline turned into full blown problem cracks as soon as the pressure was taken off. The footings turned out to only be 5" thick as opposed to 12" like they should be in the area. And the foundation wall was only 6" with no rebar - the norm around here is 8" with rebar. So I'm not excited about the expense since the liviability of the home will be about the same, but knowing the foundation is solid and not going anywhere will go a long way for sellability in the future. Not to mention eliminate problems that I might have with interior finishes cracking or seperating because the foundation is settling. Now the work begins for Phil, removing the old sections of foundation and hauling them off. I'm glad I opted not to handle this improvement by myself. You have to have the right kind of equipment to do something like this. I'll stick to things I know and have the equipment for like finish work, tile and hardwood.

Picture below is the power panel we had to disconnect. I had to run down to the local power company and ask them to disconnect it. I was surprised how willing to work with me they were. Having worked in construction in larger cities I guess I am just used to utility companies more concerned about following a "process" that they don't really care at all about any kind of personal service. Every one at the power company was very helpful I came in on a Friday and they had it disconnected the following Monday. Looks like originally the power was not put in conduit- which it should be, so thats an expense I wasn;t planning on. But the power box is just 50' or so from the home so it shouldn't be too bad.